Ukrainians have celebrated 31 years of independence from the Soviet Union, and likewise marked six months since Russia invaded the nation, in an ongoing battle that has killed tens of hundreds of individuals, devastated Ukraine’s economic system, and turned Russia right into a digital pariah state.

Ukrainians have been warned to stay vigilant on August 24 as they celebrated the date in 1991, when the legislature issued a declaration of independence from the united statesS.R. Simply over three months later, greater than 90 p.c of Ukrainians authorised a referendum formalizing the declaration.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in the meantime, accused of Russia of launching a missile strike that hit the Chaplyne railway station within the southern Dnipropetrovsk area, killing no less than 22 individuals and wounding greater than 50.

“Chaplyne is our ache as we speak. As of this second, there are 22 useless, 5 of them burned in a railway automobile,” he mentioned in his nightly video handle. “Search and rescue operations on the railway station will proceed. We will certainly make the occupiers reply for every thing they’ve carried out. And we will definitely throw out the invaders from our land.”

Dwell Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL’s Dwell Briefing offers you the entire newest developments on Russia’s ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is combating again, Western army help, world response, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s protection of the battle, click on right here.

Earlier, acknowledging the heavy toll because the February 24 invasion, Zelenskiy vowed his “reborn” nation would combat Russian troops “till the tip.”

“Throughout these six months, we modified historical past, modified the world, and adjusted ourselves… We began to respect ourselves. We understood that regardless of any assist and assist, nobody however us will combat for our independence. And we united,” Zelenskiy mentioned in a recorded handle broadcast to the nation.

The commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces mentioned this week that about 9,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed in six months of combating.

Kyiv and several other different massive cities have banned public celebrations amid warnings that Russia would use the event to strike civilian and authorities infrastructure.

Within the Ukrainian capital, authorities staged a show of wrecked and captured Russian army automobiles and tanks on Kyiv’s famed Khreshchatyk Avenue, as a reminder of Moscow’s failed try and seize the capital.

The invasion has resulted in unprecedented Western sanctions which have pummeled the Russian economic system and remoted Moscow internationally. The invasion has additionally prompted huge quantities of Western help, assist, and weaponry, bolstering Ukrainian defenses.

The USA, the most important single supplier of weaponry, introduced one other $3 billion in new army help, a mammoth bundle that places U.S. help at almost $12 billion since February 24.

“On behalf of all People, I congratulate the individuals of Ukraine on their Independence Day,” President Joe Biden mentioned in an announcement saying the bundle. “The USA of America is dedicated to supporting the individuals of Ukraine as they proceed the combat to defend their sovereignty.”

August 24 is marked in Ukraine as Independence Day. Because the nation fights to protect its sovereignty from a full-scale Russian invasion, RFE/RL takes a glance again at how a free Ukraine emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who made an unannounced journey to Kyiv to assist mark the event, pledged continued British assist. London has additionally been a significant provider of weaponry and help to Ukraine.

What occurs in Ukraine issues to us all. That’s the reason I’m in Kyiv as we speak,” he mentioned in a put up to Twitter. “I consider Ukraine can and can win this battle.”

NATO Secretary-Common Jens Stoltenberg paid tribute “to all those that have misplaced their lives or been wounded and to all Ukrainian women and men who’re combating for his or her nation, their freedom, and their family members.”

“You may proceed to rely on NATO’s assist for so long as it takes,” he mentioned.

Russia has cited Ukraine’s aspirations to affix NATO as one of many pretexts for invading.

In 2014, following months of avenue protests that led to the ouster of the nation’s pro-Russian resident, Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and backed Russian-speaking separatists who seized components of the japanese Donetsk and Luhansk areas.

Since February 24, Russia has tightened its grip on Ukraine’s southern and japanese territories, although extra lately, Western army officers say, the battle has changed into a stalemate.

In his handle, Zelenskiy vowed that Ukrainians will combat “till the tip” and solely cease as soon as the complete nation is reunited.

“Each new day is a brand new purpose not to surrender. As a result of, having gone by means of a lot, now we have no proper to not attain the tip. What’s the finish of the battle for us? We used to say: peace. Now we are saying: victory,” he mentioned.

Pope Francis, talking at his weekly normal viewers on August 24, urged “concrete steps” to finish the “insanity,” and known as for measures to avert the danger of a “nuclear catastrophe” on the Zaporizhzhya energy plant.

Latest combating across the Zaporizhzhya plant — Europe’s largest nuclear station — has triggered fears of a catastrophic incident.

Shattering the anniversary temper, Russia continued to pound civilian targets throughout Ukraine, the place air raid sirens wailed intermittently.

“Air and missile strikes by the Russian occupiers in opposition to civilian targets on the territory of Ukraine proceed,” the Common Employees of the Ukrainian Armed Forces mentioned in an announcement. “Don’t ignore air warning alerts.”

Russian forces additionally attacked Ukrainian positions close to Bakhmut and Kodema within the Donetsk area, in addition to within the course of the settlements of Pisky and Nevelske, the assertion mentioned.

Russian air defenses shot down an unspecified variety of Ukrainian drones close to the Crimean metropolis of Sevastopol late on August 23, the Moscow-appointed Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhayev mentioned.

The reviews couldn’t be independently confirmed.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, CNN, and dpa